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I have been interested in this subject for the last 20 years. It began when I was studying the Gospels at seminary. Jesus seemed to speak a different language, especially in the Synoptic Gospels, than what I was used to.

One might respond by saying that Fry would put no stock in the Bible’s claims. But let’s not be too quick. Fry is actually aware of some of the Bible’s claims elsewhere and even acknowledges that the God of the Bible has “terms”.

How do we know that we are moving forward? How do we measure spiritual progress? A deeper question is: do we desire it? Is spiritual progress a serious goal for us? And what are we doing to reach the goal? If it’s not a serious goal then it’s unlikely that we will make much progress. John…

If you want to know how to totally muck it up as a Christian leader then take a look at King Saul, the details of whose reign we find mainly in the books of Samuel. He provides some brilliant examples.

His main weakness, which eventually became his downfall, was that he was driven by pride. He was terrified of losing the respect and love and praise of others, and his obsession with keeping those things overrode his desire to obey God.

These days it seems that being ‘evangelical’ is back in vogue. But what exactly does that mean?

Everyone wants to claim it, to the point that now many Christians from a broad range of theological backgrounds and beliefs label themselves by it, and it often seems to have different connotations in different cultures. The reality is, however, that many Christians (and certainly non-believers) don’t really have a clear idea of what the word actually means or who it describes.